“Lotta purchased a Boston hotel and aged there alone. She spent the dozen years before her death in 1924 perfecting her will, donating much of her $4 million estate to animals, veterans and hard-luck actors, though it didn’t stop previously-unheard-of family members from claiming stakes in court. She turned down invitations, even when they came from John Barrymore. She wore old costumes for her solitary amusement and only occasionally admitted yearning for the crowd, revealing the psychology that created and fed fame then, as now: ‘I cannot exist without many around me.’”

- Swati Pandey on Lotta Crabtree, a child star who danced and dodged bullets in the Wild West. Read the fully story here.

Few weddings will ever reach the levels of frenzy, mania and jockeying as the union of Kate Middleton and Prince William. The guest list, the ceremony, the food and — more to the point — the dress. Only a handful of people are privy to the details of that item.

What we don’t know: pretty much anything specific. It may have been made by Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen, though denials are bouncing off the canyon walls. It’s not going to be a strange little see-through number like the one that supposedly captured William’s heart. It likely won’t adhere to Kate’s not-so-frothy style. It better not have leg o’mutton sleeves à la the dearly departed Princess Di’s. It’s not going to feature cleavage of any kind (but check back with us if Chelsy Davy ever heads down the aisle at Westminster Abbey).

What we can count on: It’s already been made, and probably by many pairs of nimble hands. It’s white. It’s going to be in a museum one day. —Claire Howorth

“Sex is used so often in everyday life through the media. And at the same time, we’re taught to kind of keep it to ourselves. It’s okay to show your tits, but it’s not okay to talk about what your kinks are, when you’re a woman.”

I was talking to my girlfriend the other day and she said that omitted truths are different than lies. She even went as far as saying that omitting truths isn’t wrong.

For example, suppose a friend went into my house while I was away and stole something. If I were to come home and ask him him what he was doing, and he replied “just chillin,” or something of that nature, he would be omitting a truth.

I should specify that I believe that omitting the truth is wrong when the result is neither benign nor positive for all parties — not when the consequences are neutral or positive. I believe that it’s wrong to omit a truth if doing so has the potential to do harm.

I can concede that an omitted truth may not be in the same category as a lie but I believe that it still carries the same severity.

She believes that of course lying is wrong, but omitting the truth is not wrong. She brought up an example of politics. She states that it is essential for politicians to omit truths because if they didn’t there would be no progress. I can agree with this statement to some degree, but I don’t think the sake of progress or “to make things easier” makes omitting truths alright.

I was hoping you could comment on this argument because she and I disagree and I respect your opinions.

Whether you are omitting truths or telling lies, you are still committing willful acts of deception. The only difference is that omissions are passive and lies are active.

You and your girlfriend are getting all caught up in the difference between passive and active, but so what? A willful act is a willful act, and in both instances, your free will is the proximate cause of that deception.

Omitting truths isn’t about right or wrong any more than lying is. Ethically, it’s all the same cocktail, because what we’re talking about here are willful acts of deception. Sometimes deception is necessary and good. Most of the time deception is wrong, and occasionally it’s downright unforgivable.

Come on, kids. Didn’t you ever stop and wonder why in all those courtroom dramas they make witnesses swear an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? It’s because if you omit part of the truth, then it’s not the whole truth, and you’ve broken your oath.

Right or wrong, omitting truths is deception.

Watch out for your girlfriend, dude. Her integrity is questionable. It’s not necessarily her fault, because she might have been raised by a pack of lawyers. Still, she seems to be of a certain opinion that while she might not openly lie to you, she’s under no obligation to be forthcoming.

If I were you, I’d get in the habit of asking leading yes-or-no questions.

A 1959 leak at a plant near Los Angeles spewed more radiation than did Three Mile Island. The lone survivor, John Pace, recalls America’s own forgotten meltdown:

John Pace was a 20-year-old trainee at a top-secret military testing base outside Los Angeles when a multiple meltdown released 240 times more radiation than the one that took place 32 years ago on March 28 at Three Mile Island.

As Pace, now 72, has been watching the events in Japan unfold, he’s been reliving the terrifying ordeal of his own past.

The Japanese “may find themselves in a spot that they may never go home again and expose their families,” he said. “There comes a point where they have been radiated enough, so what’s a little more? [They think] ‘If I can keep this from killing my family and neighborhoods, I’m willing to give my life to solve the problem.’

“I feel sorry for those fellows [in Japan]. They’re over there risking their lives just like I did — I feel sorry for them as well as their families.”

A million little buildings. To illustrator James Gulliver Hancock, a crack in a brick on the corner of a residential building, or chipped paint on a fire escape ladder, are more than just flaws — they’re art. Hancock plans to draw every single building in New York City. So far he’s completed 500 drawings in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Read the full story here, by Nora Barak.

WAR-WEARY: President Obama’s speech puts limits on the U.S. intervention in Libya. As Carmel Melouney wrote in today’s Daily:

President Obama does not want Libya to be his Iraq.

In his long-awaited speech last night, Obama made the case for overthrowing Libyan tyrant Moammar Gadhafi — but said he won’t order it himself, and won’t have U.S. forces fight for regime change.

Tackling critics of the conflict, the president confidently defended the military action by saying the United States had “intervened to stop a massacre” — but insisted he does not want the kind of war that he opposed before he became commander-in-chief.

“To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq.”

Click here for the full story, and look for this Sound Off page in the app to share your opinion. What do YOU think of Obama’s case for military action in Libya?

“The day’s most telling moment was also one of its least harrowing. When Arguedas attempted to get Bell to agree to a description of Bonds, back in the day, as “good-looking and smart”, Bell resisted the second with dead silence. The whole court room burst out laughing, and one of the most embarrassing days of Barry Bonds’ life just got worse and worse.”

“Mad Men” may have succumbed to greedy men. The biggest hit in the history of the AMC cable channel might be canceled after four hugely successful seasons because the show’s creator, Matthew Weiner, and his producing partners at Lionsgate are balking at making budget cuts and “revenue enhancements” designed to boost AMC’s bottom line.

Parent company Cablevision is planning to spin off its Rainbow Media Holdings — which also includes WE TV, IFC and the Sundance Channel — in an initial public offering soon.

If successful, the IPO will net top execs huge windfalls. Josh Sapin, president and CEO of Rainbow, stands to make $25 million, an insider said.

“Weiner is being completely screwed by AMC,” said one source on the creative side.

“Nobody would have heard of AMC if not for Matt Weiner and ‘Mad Men.’ But they will not renew the show unless he accedes to all of their demands.”

The execs are said to be demanding that Weiner cut three minutes from every episode so they can sell six more 30-second advertisements, and they are demanding the elimination of two characters.

“They want to fire two actors to save costs and show how profitable they are,” said our source.

Presumably, the show’s stars — Jon Hamm, January Jones, Christina Hendricks and John Slattery — would be spared.

“Weiner just may walk away from the show, and the AMC execs are threatening to go ahead with ‘Mad Men’ without Weiner, but that would be like doing ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ without Larry David.”

“Mad Men,” which usually starts filming in April for a season premiere in the summer, already had been pushed back as negotiations dragged on. The next season, if there is one, won’t air until 2012.

Weiner was said to be skiing with his kids and couldn’t be reached for comment. He had complained in January about the fight over his “very lucrative property,” telling Entertainment Weekly: “It’s one of the perils of success — everyone wants a piece of it now, and they are fighting over who is gonna get the biggest chunk.”

In “Dead Weight: Obesity epidemic drives up sales of oversize coffins,” Bill Bradley learns that as Americans get bigger and bigger, so do their caskets.

Just as there are XXL shirts, there are XXL caskets. And the constant increase in American obesity has the oversize-casket business booming.

“In the last year, business has gone up at least 30 percent,” said Keith Davis, president of Goliath Casket, a company that specializes in oversize caskets. “This is going to get a lot worse before it ever gets any better — and my prediction is the volume of oversize caskets overall is going to double in the next few years.”

If obesity among American adults is any indication — it doubled between 1980 and 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control — Mr. Davis will be in business for years to come. “The overall need for larger caskets is ever-increasing. We’re seeing that increase every month.”

In today’s Photo File, Australian photographer Peter Lik whisks you away to the Florida Keys, the Grand Canyon and a Hawaiian volcano:

When Australian landscape photographer Peter Lik clicks the shutter on his camera, he finds himself connecting completely with Mother Nature.

“It’s my Zen moment,” Lik told The Daily.

The photographer has traversed the world, capturing some of nature’s finest moments that appear to be magical.

“I’m willing to go virtually anywhere to get great shots,” he said. “I shoot most of my photographs at either dawn or dusk and rarely shoot blue skies.”

In his photographs, Lik tries to bring out the most with lights and textures. His preferred place to shoot is the American Southwest, with its arches and cliffs hewn by nature.

Lik’s work is famous worldwide. His new TV series, “From the Edge With Peter Lik” — which sees Lik risking life and limb in search of the perfect shot — makes its debut Thursday on the Weather Channel. —Chavie Lieber